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This article presents an overview of the instructional models of Gagne, Briggs, and Wager (1992) and Laurillard (1993, 2002), followed by student evaluations from the first year of an online public health core curriculum. Both online courses and their evaluations were developed in accordance with the two models of instruction. More...

For some, “learning objects" are the “next big thing” in distance education promising smart learning environments, fantastic economies of scale, and the power to tap into expanding educational markets. While learning objects may be revolutionary in the long term, in the short term, definitional problems and conceptual confusion undermine our ability to understand and critically evaluate the emerging field. More...

This study explored the capacity of Web-based, group communication systems to support case-based teaching and learning. Eleven graduate students studying at a distance were divided into three groups to collaborate on a case study using either a synchronous voice, an asynchronous voice, or a synchronous text communication system. More...

This article reports on an exploratory research effort in which the extent of MBA student learning on twelve specific competencies relevant to effective business performance was assessed. The article focuses on the extent to which differences in student learning outcomes may be influenced by one of three different types of instructional delivery: on-campus, distance, and executive MBA. It affirms the high quality of learning that can occur via distance education and proposes a strategy to conduct summative, program-level assessment. More...

Most institutions of postsecondary and higher education are creating or adopting quality statements, standards, and criteria regarding their niche of the “eLearning enterprise.” In doing so, they have a tendency to reinvent the wheel. This article summarizes current published quality standards in the US, and analyzes and organizes them into a nine-cell matrix. It concludes with discussion of emerging issues with respect to the nine standards-areas. More...

Good tutoring requires appropriate interpersonal and pedagogical skills. Tutor personality is a major factor affecting how tutors communicate and deals with students, and yet it is a largely unexplored context of distance education. Using the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI)* this paper examines how the personality of tutors’ affects their teaching effectiveness at a distance learning institution in Hong Kong. The results are compared to those reported by Chan (2001) in a similar study using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The results indicate that certain scales on the Chinese Tradition factor of the CPAI are significantly related to tutors’ teaching performance, and that the MBTI could not subsume all the CPAI scales. More...

This article presents a comparative study of online education systems in Norwegian, Swedish, and Australian universities. The online education systems discussed comprise content creation tools and systems for learning management, student management, and accounting. The author of this article arrives at the conclusion that there seems to be a general lack of integration between theses systems in all three countries. Further, there seems to be little focus on standards specifications such as IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS) and Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) in higher education in all three countries. More...

The future of any region’s higher education infrastructure cannot be a matter of guesswork; instead it must be built upon a solid foundation that is both rationally and soundly constructed. This postulate is especially important for regions such as Latin America experiencing problems associated with underdevelopment. Universities, particularly those specializing the area of science and technology, can and do play a constructive role in the advancement and improvement of modern society. However, the current Latin American educational context, which is less than optimal, can be compared with other similarly developing countries around the world, many of which have produced high quality university and scientific systems. Why is Latin America lagging behind? This is a good question that deserves closer examination. More...

This paper describes and quantifies the role of group facilitation in an experiential, real-time, online, university level credit course entitled eAHSC/230 Interpersonal Communications and Relations. A new and unique group interaction pattern called parallel communication, as well as classical elements of group interaction are described and quantified. New measures of online group facilitation attributes with analogous face-to-face (F2F) counterparts are presented. Specifically, the impact of effective group facilitation on Attentiveness, on Interaction, on Involvement, and on Participation is explored. More...